Sponsor a child in Sri Lanka
- Around 150 children are sponsored in Sri Lanka with the money going towards their education.
- Sponsorship money is spent on school equipment (eg. pens, paper and books) and after-school tuition.
- Families also use the money to pay for transport to school and for extra classes.
- The money is also used for buying clothes and food for the child.
- Your money also contributes to OST'S management of the sponsorship scheme.
You can help by:
- Sponsoring a child for £15 per month
- Setting up a Standing order and paying £15 a month for a specific child
- Setting up a Standing order and paying £180 annually for a specific child
- Setting up a Standing order and paying £15 a month for Child Sponsorship no specific child
- Setting up a Standing order and paying £180 annually for Child Sponsorship no specific child
Your money will make a difference and will bring a smile to every child who is sponsored.
Our Sponsorship programmes
In Batticaloa
We have sponsored over 75 children in Batticaloa since we set up the scheme in 2005
The sponsorship money helps pay for educational materials - stationery, textbooks, school equipment as well as transport to and from school for extra classes. In addition to this it helps to put food on the table for some of the poorest families living in some of the most remote communities.
In Trinco
We have been supporting a school in the town of Vallaimanal since 2005. We are currently sponsoring approximately 100 children there. This area is remote and the people there were hit by the Tsunami and also the Civil War. The sponsorship money helps with educational resources and also with providing food for the families. Our team from the UK visit the school every year during their trip in October which provides great excitement for all the children.
In Killinochchi
Sponsor a child at Mahadeva Achchirama Children's Home
Ocean Stars supports a children's home in Killinochchi, Northern Sri Lanka. The goal of the home is to be self-sustaining - they have vast amounts of land on which they farm bananas and other fruit, teak, and they even have a dairy farm. In three small compounds on this land they have 200 children who have been placed into their care by the courts - either orphans, children of single parents who can't afford to support them, or parents who have abandoned them.
Ocean Stars has provided a playground, an extra classroom, a well and a kitchen for the onsite preschool. We also contribute towards the care of the children at the home. For £15.00 a month you can help feed, clothe and educate a child at Mahadeva Achchirama Children's Home.
Sponsorship Inspiration
Kilmya, an 18-year-old Mulsim girl living in Trincomalee has been sponsored by Anne since she was 7 years old. Kilmya has recently received excellent 'O' Level results and is now planning on going to University and studying medicine.
The whole community is 'buzzing' with excitement at the prospect of having their own doctor.
In her own words...
"If it wasn't for the sponsorship and support of Anne for the past ten years I wouldn't have been able to afford the extra tuition that has helped me to achieve my goal of staying at school and taking my 'O' level exams."
Visiting Rimsha my sponsor child
Julie talks about her experience of visiting Rimsha her sponsor child.
One of the many experiences that really moved me during my first visit to Sri Lanka was the day we spent in Trincomalee, a fishing community that was resettled after the Tsunami. It was a truly humbling day in which we received such a warm welcome and amazing hospitality. We met many sponsor children, some of whom were receiving school schools and trainers. Seeing the impact of sponsorship was so encouraging. We heard the story of a girl who was about to embark on a medical degree, having had her education sponsored since she was young.
It was after that trip that I looked into sponsorship. I asked if it might be possible to sponsor a child the same age as my youngest daughter Ruby and we were matched with Rimsha. We pay £15 per month that goes towards educational supplies and when she's older will help with the cost of tutoring. Having returned twice to Sri Lanka means I have had the privilege to meet Rimsha and her family and find out more about their lives. Her father works delivering fish on his bicycle, while her mother takes care of Rimsha, younger brother and baby sister. Ruby and Rimsha have exchanged gifts and cards and have even recorded video messages for each other.
Ruby has talked in her school harvest assembly about sponsoring Rimsha in the hope of encouraging others to do the same and she is planning to sell some of the toys she has outgrown in order to raise money to provide Rimsha with a bike to help her get to school. Ruby is already looking forward to going on an Ocean Stars trip in the future so that she can meet Rimsha in person.
